Defend Your Home Against Mother Nature - Part 4

Welcome to the final installment in our series of short articles exploring the damage severe weather can wreak and how Innotech windows and doors help prevent or mitigate that damage. For part one please click here, for part two click here, and part three can be found here.

As this series comes to an end it seems appropriate to look back and review everything it takes to protect a home from inclement weather. From the construction of a window to how it’s installed, the blogs have covered a lot of ground; here’s the short version.

Impact Resistance

Part one started with a bang – literally – as the importance of impact resistant windows was demonstrated with a video from Innotech’s testing facility:

Impact resistance is important because not only will a broken window allow debris or water to enter a home, but it can also lead to dangerous pressure differential scenarios that can threaten the structural integrity of the whole home.

So how do you make a window impact resistant? It comes down to quality; by utilizing high quality thick glass, combined with well-engineered durable frames and hardware, a window is much better protected against wind or water-driven debris.

Air and Water Tightness

Inspired by the terrible High River and Calgary floods of 2013, part two examined how to create air and water-tight windows. Leaky windows are at best a nuisance and at worst destructive, so windows that keep bad weather outside the building envelope protect not only a homeowner's belongings, but also their wallet!

The video below shows the performance difference between well-made windows, and windows that aren’t built to withstand rough weather. The results are eye-opening:

Window Selection and Installation

Well-built windows with durable glass, frames, and hardware are essential to protecting a home, but they don’t mean a thing if the wrong type of window is selected for a space, or if it’s improperly installed. Using the example of Calgary’s basement egress windows this blog demonstrated that oftentimes the type of window selected becomes very important when dealing with specific spaces. Calgary’s building code contains strict guidelines that make tilt and turn windows the only logical choice for basement egress windows, and choosing the wrong type of window could be disastrous in severe weather.

Even putting the right window in the right spot won’t help if it isn’t correctly installed. Water and air can easily ingress into the building envelope around a poorly installed window, so it’s obvious why companies like Innotech mandate a very strict installation process. A good install should include these steps:

Ensuring the window is perfectly level

Installing weather-resistant seals

Applying manufacturer-approved sealant

Adhering to proper drainage guidelines

Firmly securing the window in the opening

Want to ensure your new home is well protected from the elements? We invite you to speak to one of our windows experts – click here to find a showroom near you.